History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III, Part 18

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity
Number of Pages: 688

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III > Part 18

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ALFRED TRACY LIVINGSTON, M. D .- Lev- ing. a Hungarian noble, came to Scotland in the train of Margaret. Queen of Malcolm III of Scotland, about 1072, and from him sprang the ancient and noble family of Livingston, a corruption of "de Levingstoune." adopted as surname by William, grandson of Loving. In America the name is an honored one, and in the State capitol at Albany, N. Y., their armorial bearings are sculptured, a mark of public honor. Eight Livingstons were in command of troops at the battle of Saratoga; Chancellor Livingston stands chief among the chan- cellors of New York and is honored with a full figure bronze statue in the State capitol : William Livingston was New Jersey's famous war governor during the

Revolution; and all are descended from Rev. John Livingston, a Non-Conformist clergyman of the twenty- third generation of the descendants of Leving, the Hungarian noble, and the immediate ancestor of this branch of the American family ; Dr. Alfred T. Livings- ton tracing from Rev. John Livingston through the latter's youngest son James.

John Livingston, the founder of this branch in Amer- ica, and a lineal descendant of Rev. John Livingston, of Scotland, came from the county of Monaghan, Ireland, to Saratoga county, N. Y., about 1764. Later he moved to Salem, Washington county, N. Y., and there died. He was called out several times during the Revolution and each time rendered the service required. His wife, who was a Miss Boyd, came with him from Ireland.

The line continues through Dr. William Livingston, son of John Livingston, founder, who was born at Still- water, Saratoga county, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1768, died May 8, 1860. He was a physician of Hebron, Washington county, N. Y., and of Essex county. He came to Chau- tauqua county, N. Y., in 1828, but returned after a few years to Essex county. He was a leading physician of his day, a prominent Whig, and was four times elected to the Legislature from Washington county. He married (first) Sarah Tracy, and among their children was a son, John Jay.

John Jay Livingston was born at Hebron, N. Y., Oct. 19, 1798, died at Jamestown, N. Y., Aug. 3, 1890. He came to Chautauqua county in 1830, but in 1832 went to V'enango county (later designated Clarion county ), Pa., where for fifty-four years he was a resident of Shippen- ville and Tylersburg. He was a surveyor and civil engineer, and after attaining the age of eighty per- formed professional field work with his instruments for twenty-seven consecutive days. He was active to the end of his years, ninety-two. He spent the last years of his life in Jamestown at the home of his son, Dr. Alfred T. Livingston. He married (third) Elizabeth Jane Whitchill, born April 8, 1809, near Bellefonte, Pa., died June 7, 1886, daughter of James Whitehill, a skilled smith who conducted a forge and foundry in Center county, Pa., and later in Clarion county.

Alfred Tracy Livingston, only child of John Jay Livingston and Elizabeth Jane (Whitehill) Livingston, was born in Shippenville, Clarion county, Pa., April I, 1849, now ( 1920) living retired at his home at Driftwood on the shores of Chautauqua Lake. He was educated in the Jamestown public schools and academy and Alle- gheny College, graduating from the latter in class of 1870. He then began the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. James B. Livingston, and later under Dr. Benton, at Tarr Farm, Pa., going thence to the medical department of the University of Buffalo, receiving his M. D. with the class of 1873. He began the practice of his profession in Buffalo, but in the autumn of the same year accepted appointment as assistant physician at the State Insane Hospital, Utica, N. Y., there remain- ing five years. He spent the next eight years in Phila- delphia, Pa., there establishing the first Home Hospital for the treatment of mental disease. In 1886 he removed to Jamestown, N. Y. In 1901 he purchased a fruit plan- tation near Dorado, Porto Rico, where he spends half of each year. He is a member of the American Med- ical Association, New York State and Chautauqua

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County Medical societies, and has written many papers on medical subjects. He is a member also of the Amer- ican Electro Therapeutic Society.

Dr. Livingston married (first) Jan. 16, 1879, Catherine Packer, born May 13, 1853, died July 13, 1883. He married (second) June 21, 1899, Nellie Elizabeth Hallock, born Jan. 26, 1862, daughter of Rev. William Allen and Clara M. (Hall) Hallock (q. v.). Dr. and Mrs. Livingston are the parents of a daughter, Clara Elizabeth, born in Jamestown, May 5, 1900.

REV. WILLIAM ALLEN HALLOCK is an hon- ored and devoted minister of the Congregational church, who spent a part of his mature life in Chautauqua county.

Through his mother he traced his descent to the Pilgrims, counting five ancestors who came over in the "Mayflower." His father's family settled in Southold, L. I., in 1640, Peter Hallock being the first of the name in this country. Mr. Hallock's great-grandfather, also named William, married Alice Homan, of Chilmark, Nantucket, and about 1766 moved to Goshen, Mass. He, with his two sons, Jeremiah and Moses, served in the War of the Revolution.

The Rev. Moses Hallock was graduated from Yale College in 1788, and on the completion of his theological studies was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Plainfield, Mass., which he served for forty- five years. In addition to his ministerial duties, he established in his home a classical school for boys in which he fitted more than 300 for college. Among them were seven of the early missionaries, more than fifty clergymen, and others widely known including the poet Bryant, Marcus Whitman, who saved Oregon, and John Brown, of Ossowatomic.

His wife was Margaret (Allen) Hallock, of Chilmark, Nantucket, a descendant of Thomas Mayhew, the first governor of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as a successful missionary to the Indians living on those islands. Of the four sons who received their early training in the home school, Rev. William A. Hallock, D. D., was for fifty years at the head of the American Tract Society; Gerard, for over thirty years editor of the New York Journal of Commerce; and Homan, a missionary printer, made the first Arabic type in Syria. The remaining son, Leavitt H. Hallock, father of Rev. William A. Hallock, was born in Plainfield, Jan. 21, 1798, where he spent most of his life. He was a general merchant, for some time a tanner, and a farmer. He served several terms as justice of the peace, was post- master, and in 1849 was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature. He died Oct. 16, 1877, at the home of his son, Rev. Leavitt H. Hallock, D. D., in West Winstead, Conn. In 1829 he married Elizabeth Porter Snell, daughter of Ebenezer and. Deborah (Porter) Snell, of Cummington, Mass., her Aunt Sarah being the mother of William Cullen Bryant. The children of this marriage were twin daughters, Fanny and Eliza; Fanny married Rev. Henry M. Hazeltine, of Jamestown, where she died Jan. 10, 1920; Eliza married Rev. Thomas H. Rouse, who was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Jamestown from 1856 to 1868; Rev. William A. Hallock, born in Plainfield, Aug. 27, 1832; also a

younger brother, Rev. Leavitt H. Hallock, D. D., now of Portland, Me.

Rev. William A. Hallock was graduated from Amherst College, in 1855. He entered Yale Theological Seminary, but owing to an accident was obliged to drop his studies. A voyage on a sailing vessel to Constan- tinople restored his health, and in 1859 he was graduated from the Hartford Theological Seminary and accepted the pastorate. of the Congregational Church in Gilead, Conn., where he remained for four years, until a rail- road accident compelled him to give up his work. He then moved to Jamestown and when his health again improved preached acceptably in Kiantone, Frewsburg, Sugar Grove, and Ashville. In 1877 he went to Con- necticut, where he served the Congregational church in Bloomfield for twelve years. He then returned to James- town, N. Y., which he considered his home for the remainder of his life, though much of the last years were spent in Porto Rico. He died Sept. 4, 1911, and is buried in Jamestown. The funeral service was held in Pilgrim Memorial Church, and was unusually impres- sive, his brother, Dr. Hallock, delivering a beautiful tribute of love and appreciation.

Mr. Hallock had a strong character. He was an able pulpit orator, abounding in energy and enthusiasm. The churches which he served prospered under his leadership. In Jamestown, after retiring from active ministerial work, he took a deep interest in the Sunday school out of which grew Pilgrim Memorial Church, and was for some years its superintendent. He gave the site for the Young Men's Christian Association building in Jamestown, and his portrait hangs in the library. Mr. Hallock was active and impulsive, at the same tiine showing an unusual perseverance in carrying through any enterprise he undertook.

He married, Sept. 19, 1860, Clara M. Hall, daughter of William and Julia (Jones) Hall, born in James- town, July 5, 1836, died Sept. 17, 1897. A son, William Hall, born in 1864, died in 1894, after several years study in Germany, where he had gone after completing his college course at Amherst. A daughter, Nellie Elizabeth, graduated at Smith College, and on June 21, 1899, married Alfred Tracy Livingston, M. D., of James- town, who now (1920) has a summer home at Drift- wood-on-Chautauqua, but spends the winters in Dorado, Porto Rico. Dr. and Mrs. Livingston have one daughter, Clara Elizabeth.

William Hall, father of Mrs. Clara M. (Hall) Hallock, was born in Wardsboro, Vt., Aug. 17, 1793, died in Jamestown, N. Y., July 6, 1880, having been a resident there for sixty-four years, son of William and Abigail (Pease) Hall, his father a Revolutionary soldier. William Hall came to Jamestown in 1816 and became one of the leading business men, a public-spirited citizen. He married Julia Jones, daughter of Solomon Jones, and they were the parents of : Colonel William C. J. Hall; Rev. Elliot C. Hall; and Clara M. Hall, wife of Rev. William Allen Hallock.

JOHN CHAMBERLAIN MASON-From boyhood John C. Mason has been identified with the jewelry business, serving an apprenticeship under his honored father, Levant L. Mason, a wonderfully skilled jeweler

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and engraver, and Jamestown's oldest merchant at the time of his death in 1011. In the course of time his son succeeded him but not in the store which had been their mutual business home for so long. John C. Mason mov- ing a block further north to No. 305 Main street, his present location. Not alone as a successful business mian is he known in Jamestown, the city of his birth, but as a man of genial. social nature, gifted in mind, a good entertainer, and versatile writer. Who does not recall his minstrel shows with their burlesque of the Board of Aldermen and other local characters, written by Mr. Mason, full of pungent wit and humor, wit with- out malice or sting, and humor clean and wholesome. The ladies of the Warren Home for the Aged remeniber his entertainments in their behalf, and in countless ways Mr. Mason has added to the fund of humorous enter- tainments. He is a son of Levant L. and Eunice ( Stevens) Mason, and a grandson of Belden B. and Mercy ( Whitcomb) Mason, who came to Jamestown from Erie county, N. Y., in 1831.

Levant L. Mason was born at Clarence, Erie county, N. Y .. Dec. 25. 1826, died in Jamestown, N. Y., in 1911. His parents came to Jamestown in 1831, and that city was ever afterward his home with the exception of the years spent in Rochester, N. Y., learning the jeweler's trade. He was engaged in the jewelry business in Jamestown, occupying several locations before finally purchasing the building at No. 217 Main street, where he continued in business until his retirement after sixty years of service. He served Jamestown as trustee and village president ; as a member of the Board of Educa- tion for sixteen years; and as secretary and superin- tendent of the Lake View Cemetery Association from 18:6 for more than a quarter of a century. For more than half a century he was vestryman or warden of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church; was a past master of Mt. Moriah Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons (an honor also hell by his son, John C. Mason) ; was a companion of Western Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and a sir knight of Jamestown Commandery, Knights Templar.

Levant L. Mason married, at Rochester, N. Y., May 10. 1850. Eunice Stevens, and on May 10, 1900, they celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding day, their home during all of that period having been at the corner of Lafayette and West Second streets. Mrs. Mason died Dec. 7. 1003. They were the parents of three children : John C., of further mention ; Caroline, married Henry S. Penfield; Lucy H., married Fred- eri-k P. Hall, of Jamestown.

John C. Mason was born in Jamestown, N. Y., Oct. 5, 18:1, an I there spent the years of his minority. He passed the pr des of Jame-town's primary, grammar and high echox 1., then served a regular apprenticeship to the jeweler's tr'de under his father, with whom he re- mr: ed un'il araining legal age, in 1872. In that year he er red a jewelry store in Mayville, Chautauqua or in'y | Y., there remaining seven years. The next four years were .pent in the jewelry business in Ran- de'sh. B . Der aper an absence of eleven years Mr. Mason returned to fametown and his father's employ. They were a diated in bu iness at No. 217 Main street for all the year which intervened until Levant L. Mason retired, but no' as partner , the son a salaried man, but

carrying the heavier responsibilities. During this period John C. Mason perfected himself in the optician's art by a course in Cleveland and added that as a special department of the business. Finally Levant L. Mason, then an octogenarian, disposed of his stock at auction and retired. John C. Mason then moving to his present location, No. 305 Main street, where with new, fresh stock and fixtures he opened a modern jewelry store with an optical department. That was in 1910 and there he still continues, well-established and prosperous. He is a member and a former president of the Jamestown Jewelers' Association, resigning that office in 1919. Honorable and upright in his business life, Mr. Mason retains leading position in the business which has been conducted in Jamestown under the Mason name for over seventy years.

Social and genial in nature, Mr. Mason has long been identified with leading fraternal orders and has recently extended his connections by entering the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic order. He is a past master of Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; past high priest of Western Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; member of Jamestown Council, Royal and Select Masters ; and Jamestown Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also past exalted ruler of Jamestown Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The partisan preferences of earlier years have given way to a cooler view of matters political, and "Independent" best expresses his present position. He is a member of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church.

Mr. Mason was for many years interested in local amateur theatricals, his special field little plays of his own composition, a burlesque on local politicians and others, put on under the guise of a minstrel show. He frequently recited at lodge and social entertainments selections from humorous writings, but best pleased his audiences by poems of his own, bringing out good-natur- edly the traits, sayings and characteristics of the local "Great or nearly Great." He was a good entertainer and has not entirely outgrown the pleasures a good entertain- ment affords. He has prepared for this work a chapter on the Elks lodges of Chautauqua, and in a pleasing manner shown some of the beauties of that order. His recreations in his younger years were those of the out- of-doors, trout fishing especially appealing to him.

Mr. Mason married, in Randolph, N. Y., Caroline J. Mason, of Schenectady, N. Y., a distant relative. They are the parents of a son and daughter: William C., married Harriet Staples and they are the parents of a son, Charles ; Eunice Stevens.

ARTHUR WHITE SWAN-The business career of Arthur W. Swan, cashier of the National Chautauqua County Bank, of Jamestown, N. Y., began in a mercan- tile house, but banking carly attracted him and for twenty-one years he has steadily pursued that branch of business activity. The position he now ably fills came to him through a series of earned promotions, for he began at the bottom and has risen through merit alone. lle is a son of Daniel S. and Margaret E. ( White) Swan, of Randolph, Cattaraugus county, N. Y.

Arthur W. Swan was born in Randolph, April 8, 1880, and there spent his youth and carliest manhood. He was

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educated in the public schools and at Chamberlain Insti- tute, Randolph, and when school years were completed he entered business life as clerk in a Randolph store. In 1899 he became an employee of the State Bank of Randolph and there found his true vocation. Three years were spent in the Randolph bank, then, at the age of twenty-two, he came to Jamestown and in 1902 be- came a clerk in the National Chautauqua County Bank. That was eighteen years ago and from clerk he has risen through promotions to the cashier's desk, having held that position since 1916. He is a young man of character and integrity, well versed in the principle of the business he follows, and highly regarded in the banking fraternity. In his younger years athletic sports strongly appealed to Mr. Swan, but his out-of-doors recreation now is with rod and reel. He is a member of the Sportman's Club, and his holidays are usually spent on Chautauqua Lake, and Mrs. Swan is as enthusiastic a bass fisherman as her husband. Mr. Swan is a mem- ber of the Jamestown Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, lending his influence and personal aid to forward the work of these two organizations of business men who are laboring for the advancement of local interests. He is a past master of Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and past chancellor com- mander of Crescent Lodge, Knights of Pythias; a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and in politics an independent voter.

Mr. Swan married, in Jamestown, Oct. 4, 1906, Sadie M. Loucks, daughter of Wallace and Mary E. Loucks, of Jamestown. Mr. and Mrs. Swan are the parents of a son, Daniel A., born Aug. 16, 1907.

CLARENCE A. HULTQUIST-For about forty years Clarence A. Hultquist has been a resident of Jamestown, and since 1903 has been numbered among the enterprising, prosperous merchants of that city, being proprietor of The Fair, a high-class variety store, and vice-president of the Jamestown Upholstery Com- pany, manufacturers of upholstered furniture. He is one of the successful business men of Jamestown, which has long been his home, and has contributed his full share to its development.

Clarence A. Hultquist was born in Sweden, June 25, 1864, and there spent his youth. Some of his relatives had come to the United States and had located in James- town, N. Y., and he decided to join them. He arrived here in 1881, and after locating his relatives he found employment, spending three years with the Jamestown Worsted Mills. Factory life held no attraction for him, and leaving the worsted mills he became connected with J. B. Collins, the founder of The Fair, a variety store at the corner of Third and Main streets, James- town. There the young man found more suitable em- ployment, and from that year until the present he has been engaged in the field of retail merchandizing. He began as a clerk under Mr. Collins and continued with him in constantly advancing position until 1903, when Mr. Hultquist made his first venture as an independent merchant. For one year he operated a store on Second street, then opened his present establishment at No. 18 East Third street, which he conducts under the same name as that of the old store in which he was so long a clerk. The Fair may properly be classed as a variety

store as its lines are many, but perhaps crockery and glass-ware best describe it. A wonderful line of toys and games is carried, kitchen-ware of all kinds, the store being well arranged and stocked with an abundance of standard and seasonable goods. The volume of business has steadily increased with years, and The Fair is con- sidered one of Jamestown's foremost stores. When the Jamestown Upholstery Company was organized by former employees of the Jamestown Lounge Company, Mr. Hultquist secured an interest which has been increased, he having been vice-president of the company, his son, Carl A. Hultquist, secretary, another son, Earl O. Hultquist, treasurer. The company manufacture upholstered furniture at their plant, No. 300 Crescent street, Jamestown. Fred A. Nelson, one of the incor- porators of the company, is president (1920). The company is a conservative, well-managed corporation with a modern factory plant, and has grown to a con- dition of prosperity and reliability.

Although essentially a business man, Mr. Hultquist has many outside interests, social, fraternal, and religi- ous, which have brought him much into the public eye. He is a member of the Norden Club, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Swedish Brotherhood, Knights of the Maccabees, and Lief Erikson Lodge, No. 26, Scandinavian Fraternal Association of America. He is a long time member of the First Lutheran Church of Jamestown and its present treasurer. In politics he is a Republican.

Mr. Hultquist married, in Jamestown, Carlotta Matilda Peterson, of Jamestown. They are the parents of three children : 1. Carl A., secretary of the Jamestown Upholstery Company ; residing at home with his parents. 2. Earl O., secretary-treasurer of the Art Metal Con- struction Company and treasurer of the Jamestown Upholstery Company ; he married Marguerite Peterson, and they reside at No. 105 Chandler street, Jamestown. 3. Bessie A., the only daughter, resides with her parents at the family home No. 839 Prendergast avenue.

FRANK JOHN KANE, D. D. S .- Among the most successful and prominent of the rising dentists of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., is Dr. Frank J. Kane, a native of that city, whose entire life up to the present, save for the short period of his college career, has been identified with its affairs. Dr. Kane is a son of Daniel and Mary (Clifford) Kane, old and respected residents of Dunkirk, who still reside there. The elder Mr. Kane and his wife were the parents of four children, Julia, Frank John, with whom we are here con- cerned, Daniel and John.

Dr. Kane was born at Dunkirk, Feb. 26, 1894, and passed his childhood at the home of his parents in that city, attending, when he became old enough, the public schools. He passed through the grammar grades and later entered the high school, where his general educa- tion was completed and he was prepared for a collegi- ate course. As a youth he was ambitions of a profes- sional career, and accordingly matriculated at the Dental School of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. There he took the prescribed course and graduated with the class of 1916, having established a reputation as an intelligent and industrious student. In 1916 also he passed the examinations of the state boards of Michigan

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and New York, and for the following year was asso- ciated with a prominent dentist of Detroit. It was in 1017 that he opened his own office at Dunkirk and began the practice of his profession there. His office is one of the most perfectly equipped in the city, having all the most modern instruments and appliances for the dental surgeon, and his own skill and knowledge is generally recognized so that his practice has developed in the three years of his activities here and is still grow- ing rapidly. Dr. Kane has always interested himself in the general life of the community and takes a prominent part therein, being a member of a number of organiza- tions of various kinds. He became a member of the Phi Psi Phi fraternity during his college days, and since then has become affiliated with the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus of the third degree and the American Preparedness League. In politics he is an Independent, associating himself with no party but pre- ferring to exercise his own judgement on all matters of public issue without regard to partisan considerations of any kind. He is a Roman Catholic in religious belief, and attends the Church of St. Mary of that denomina- tion at Dunkirk.

CHARLES L. ECKMAN-Throughout the length and breadth of our country we find men who have worked their way unaided from the lowest rung of the ladder to positions of eminence and power in the com- munity, and not the fewest of these have been of foreign birth or descent. The more credit is due them for the additional obstacles they had to overcome, and the indomitable courage with which they have been possessed. Financial affairs have been especially bene- Ated by this influx of foreign ideas, and those of Swedish birth or descent have earned distinction to an even greater extent than those of other nations. An example in point is the life of Charles L. Eckman, ni Jamestown, N. Y., who was born May 9, 1866, near Kalmar, Sweden, a son of N. P. and Sophie Eckman. Mir. Eckman, Sr., was a native of Sweden, but came to .his country in 1869 and was for many years employed ir the business of refining petroleum in Western Penn- ylvania. lle is at present living retired.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III, Part 18

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity Number of Pages: 688

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity
Number of Pages: 688